TECHNOLOGY & SOFTWARE


THE FUTURE OF HOME CARE TECH


Cheryl Guest, Chief Operating Officer at UniqueIQ, explains why the sector needs to shiſt from being reactive to being proactive.


There’s a quiet revolution happening in home care. Not in the way we talk about care, or the values that underpin it – but in how we anticipate it.


For years, the sector has been built around response. We react when someone falls. We intervene when medication is missed. We investigate once concerns have been raised. But by the time we respond, something has already gone wrong.


It’s not for lack of care or commitment. It’s the model itself – one shaped by paper processes, fragmented systems and limited visibility. The shiſt we need isn’t just operational. It’s cultural. We need to move from reactive to proactive.


WHY REACTIVE MODELS NO LONGER SERVE US


The traditional framework of home care does its best to deal with problems aſter they’ve happened. These are oſten treated as unfortunate one-offs, logged and reported after the fact. Unfortunately, in most cases, this leads to increased pressure on emergency hospital admissions.


But increasingly, we know these events don’t happen in isolation. They’re part of a bigger picture – one built from tiny signals that, taken together, tell a story. The trouble is, we rarely see that story until the ending.


“The traditional framework of


home care does its best to deal with problems after they’ve happened.”


Take something as routine as a visit note. A carer logs “Mrs Smith seemed quieter today.” On its own, that may not prompt immediate concern. But what if that same note – or similar phrasing - appears several times in a week? What if medication adherence starts slipping at the same time? What if visits start running shorter than usual?


This is where proactive care starts to matter. Because the earlier we notice, the earlier we can step in. And often, that early intervention makes all the difference – preventing crisis, preserving independence and avoiding distress for the person receiving care.


TECHNOLOGY'S ROLE ISN’T TO REPLACE – BUT TO REVEAL


When we talk about technology in care, there’s a tendency to jump to extremes. Will AI replace carers? Will automation remove


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One area I’ve been particularly excited about recently is real-time auditing. For years, quality assurance has relied on post-visit reviews – sometimes weeks later. That delay makes it harder to act meaningfully. By the time a pattern is picked up, the moment to prevent harm has oſten passed.


New developments, like our own IQ:careaudit feature, are changing this. Rather than waiting for a review cycle, we now have the ability to monitor visit notes and medication responses as they’re submitted. That means anomalies or concerns can be flagged in real time – whether it’s a safeguarding issue, a medication omission, or simply a record that doesn’t align with what was expected.


It’s not about surveillance or scrutiny. It’s about insight. WHAT PROACTIVE CARE MIGHT LOOK LIKE


In a truly proactive model, we’re alerted to signs of change before they become problems.


A real-time auditing tool might pick up that two different carers have recorded similar concerns about a client’s mobility. That triggers a supervisor to call, check in and maybe fast-track a physiotherapy referral.


Or a string of short visits in one part of the service is picked up as a trend. It’s not a compliance breach, but it sparks a discussion about travel times, scheduling and team workload.


This isn’t a theoretical future as we are already beginning to see this shiſt happen in forward-thinking agencies. The right systems, used well, are allowing care managers to be present – even when they can’t be everywhere at once.


NO EXTRA ADMIN, JUST EXTRA AWARENESS


Understandably, care teams are wary of anything that sounds like ‘another layer of process.’ But that’s the beauty of how proactive


www.tomorrowscare.co.uk


empathy from care? These are valid concerns, especially in a sector built on trust and relationships.


But the reality is far more grounded – and far more exciting. The tech that’s making the biggest difference right now isn’t flashy or futuristic. It’s practical. Invisible. Supportive.


The information we have access to needs to be usable. We should be able to spot patterns across a sea of visit logs, medication records and daily updates, and surfacing what matters. The important thing to consider here is we are not adding complexity, but cutting through it.


THE CASE FOR REAL-TIME OVERSIGHT


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